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Book_ M S 2 'J < t~ 

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BROADWAY 

CHAMBERS 

A MODERN OFFICE BUILDING 


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EXHIBITED BY MODELS AT 
THE PARIS EXPOSITION 1900 


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42140 

Library of Congress 

Two Copies Received 

SEP 1 1900 

Copyright entry 

No. 4?.*...4?./ .<£#?. 3.. 

SECOND COPY. 

Ofi'ivereri te 

0R01R DIVISION, 

S EP 11 1900 


69648 

Copyright, 1900, by 
THE GEORGE A. FULLER CO. 



PRINTED AT NEW YORK, U. S. A. 
BY ANDREW H. KELLOGG 





~llbi 'et 


INTRODUCTION 


J, 

4 


HIS booklet is issued as a souvenir of the 
exhibit of the Broadway Chambers 
Office Building at the Paris Exposition 
of 1900. It contains a description of 
the building, and of the exhibit and its 
contributors, besides a short discussion of the steel 
frame method of construction as it has been developed 
in the United States of America. 

The exhibit is indicative of the purpose of Com¬ 
missioner-General Peck to illustrate the work of 
American engineers at the Paris Exposition. It 
was initiated by the Western Society of Engineers, 
who were actuated by the same patriotic spirit. It was 
designed by Mr. Corydon T. Purdy, of the firm of 
Purdy* & Henderson, Consulting Engineers. Mr. 
Purdy also managed the organization of the exhibit, 
representing all interests concerned. The financial 
burden was borne in the main by the George A. 
Fuller Company, who were contractors for the 
construction of the building. A large part of 



5 


the cost was contributed by sub-contractors and 
other parties, but in every case where other 
contributions failed the George A. Fuller Com¬ 
pany supplied the deficiency. They also contributed 
the most valuable feature of the exhibit—the metal 
model of the steel construction of the building. The 
plaster model was contributed by Mr. Cass Gilbert, the 
Architect, who also did a great deal in other ways to 
make its success possible. 

Besides the support of the Government Commission, 
then, the four factors that have made its creation pos¬ 
sible are the financial support of the George A. Fuller 
Company, the appreciative co-operation of the Archi¬ 
tect, Mr. Purdy’s management, and the willing and 
hearty response of its many contributors. 

Great buildings, at least in America, have come to 
stay. The fabulous value of ground in the centers of 
our great cities, the important advantage of confining 
their business interests to contracted areas, and the 
temptation such buildings offer for safe and profitable 
investment, are certain to insure their erection in many 
numbers for an indefinite future, and they will be built 
as high as traffic conditions and the necessities of sani¬ 
tation will permit. The injuries they work to valua¬ 
tions will gradually adjust themselves, legal limitations 
will be made and will be unmade, and means will be 
found to obviate other difficulties. Commercial con¬ 
siderations will eventually control. They will make 


6 


the will, and the will will find a way against all ob¬ 
struction. 

This is the reason that the old sky-line of lower New 
York has been obliterated, and this is why those who 
have watched this transformation believe that the day 
will come when the conservatism of the Old World will 
also have to yield to the same imperial demand. Lon¬ 
don and Hamburg have long wrestled with the problem 
of combustible and non-combustible buildings, equally 
with America, and the query comes whether they will 
not also have to meet the demand which may properly 
involve the methods c f construction so wonderfully de¬ 
veloped of late years in America. The remarkable 
growth of commerce is affecting all the world alike. 



7 









































































































* 






















































































































THE BUILDING 



HE contract for the Broadway Chambers 
was let by the Andrews Estate, of Bos¬ 
ton, Mass., to the George A. Fuller 
Company, of New York City. It called 
for the complete construction of the 
building, including the excavation and 
foundation work, the steel construction and all the 
other constructive and mechanical features of the 
building, as well as its finishing and ornamental 
and decorative details. The work was commenced 
immediately after the contract was signed, and 
the building was completed on the first day of 
May, 1900. Owing to the crowded condition of the 
streets and other difficulties the foundation work pro¬ 
gressed slowly, but the steel framework was erected 
with remarkable rapidity, as will be seen by examina¬ 
tion of the progress pictures. The building was de¬ 
signed by Mr. Cass Gilbert, who is the Architect of the 
United States Government for the new Custom House 
in New York City. The foundations and steel con¬ 
struction were designed by Messrs. Purdy & Hender¬ 
son, Consulting Engineers, and all the details and shop 
drawings of the building were also made by them. 
The Consulting Engineer for the electrical work was 
Mr. Reginald P. Bolton. 


9 


The building is located on the corner of Chambers 
Street and Broadway, facing City Hall Park, in lower 
New York, with a southerly and easterly exposure. It 
rises eighteen stories above the level of the sidewalk, 
the total height being 235 feet, while the width of the 
Broadway front is but little over 50 feet. The struc¬ 
ture, therefore, necessarily presents the aspect of a 
tower. Inasmuch, however, as nearly all of the stories 
are occupied for similar purposes and sub-divided into 
small rooms, it was necessary to construct the exterior 
with a great number of window openings, of approx¬ 
imately the same size. Indeed, the whole space is con¬ 
stantly cut by these recurring openings. The architec¬ 
tural difficulty is, of course, increased by these condi¬ 
tions. Were the building simply a shaft without 
openings except at the top, as in the case of many of the 
Italian towers, it would have been a comparatively sim¬ 
ple problem. The design is based upon the theory 
of expressing in the simplest possible terms f ** *|j 
the conditions of plan and Construction ^ 

that actually exist. 

The lower floors, 
intended for banks 
and stores, have 
large window open¬ 
ings, and conse¬ 
quently narrow 
piers. These stories 
are of granite, very 
robust in detail, and 
of a rich light red 
color. 

The main shaft October 26, 1899. 





of the building for eleven stories above the granite 
work is built of rough, hard vitreous brick, of a rich 
varied red color. Each brick is rounded at the edge, 
and the mortar joints, which are of gray cement, are 
set back about half of an inch from the face of the 
wall. The bricks are laid in bands five courses high, 
with alternate bands projecting* about three-quarters 
of an inch. These stories are absolutely without orna¬ 
ment and without moulding. They form the shaft of 
the tower, so to speak, and the very monotony of the 
treatment gives a certain impressive strength and 
unity to the design. 

Above this shaft one story is richly decorated with 
terra cotta of a light warm tone corresponding with the 
lightest color found in the brick below. The brickwork 
and ter- \ ra cotta are banded alternately in this story, 
with \ de<£>rative panels of terra cotta on the cor¬ 
ner piers and a 
richly festooned 
frieze and band 
course immediately 
over it. The scheme 
of color of the main 
wall is thus mar¬ 
ried to the richly 
decorated crown¬ 
ing feature formed 
by the upper three 
stories which are 
constructed entirely 
of terra cotta. 

This crowning 
feature is empha- 



Novemeer 9 , 1899 . 





sized by a series of arches forming loggias deeply re¬ 
cessed into the wall in the fifteenth and sixteenth stories. 
It provides a strong line of accent and a very rich effect 
of light and shade, which is enhanced by the use of 
color, the treatment of which is made an important ele¬ 
ment of the design. The cornice is crowned with a 
cheneau of copper in very high relief, made in color a 
verd antique. The same color recurs again in the rail¬ 
ings of the loggias at the fifteenth story, and is again 
suggested in the metal^rille and framing in the ground 
story, while the warm/ j tones of the granite used in the 
lower .stories ard re-Ai peated in the brickwork of the 

main shaft and in 
the terra cotta of 
the crowning fea¬ 
ture. Rich reds, 
primary blues and 
greens emphasize 
the depth of the 
shadows in the log¬ 
gias and enrich 
them, while deli¬ 
cate reds, light 
green, and pale yel¬ 
low with dull 
white, emphasize 
the pilasters, pan¬ 
eling, and special 
points of decora¬ 
tive interest in the 
terra cotta work. 
These, with the 
varying effects of 


November 23 1899. 


2 





sunlight and shadow, present an aspect of unusual 
interest and charm. 

In the color and texture of the material the Architect 
has successfully illustrated its quality and its function 
in building, and each material speaks frankly for itself 
without pretence or imitation of any other material, 
each bearing a harmonious relation to the whole 
scheme. The . terra cotta is frankly treated as terra 
cotta, and fiflH^^*do§£ not pretend to be stone; the 

use of color and 
enamel tells plainly 
the story that it is 
a ceramic material, 
and the form of the 
boldly modeled or¬ 
nament is that 
which is applicable 
only to a plastic 
substance. 

The elements of 
the design as a 
whole are exceed¬ 
ingly simple, being 
composed of a base, 
a shaft and a 
crowning feature, 
or, in other words, 
“ a beginning, a 
middle and an end,” 
and it is thought 
that this frank 
treatment of the 
December 7 , is??. subject may lead a 


13 








step forward in the artistic development of the high 
office building, the most intensely practical problem in 
modern architecture that Americans have now to meet. 

The sub-basement is used principally for machinery, 
and the basement is planned for a restaurant. The 
building is ^ carried on a grillage foundation of 

steel beams, bedded in 
concrete, on a deep 
stratum of coarse sharp 
sand, under which lies 
the rock. The occupa¬ 
tion of the adjoining 
property close up to 
the lines of the new 
building required 
the wall columns to 
be supported from 
within, necessita¬ 
ting combined foot¬ 
ings of somewhat 
difficult design and 
heavy riveted gird¬ 
ers with which to 
effect the proper 
distribution of the 
loads. In all of the 
footings the center 
of gravity of the 
loads was calcula¬ 
ted to coincide with 
the center of grav¬ 
ity of the resisting 
December 21, 1899 . areas. The grill- 


14 






age is composed of two or more courses of heavy steel 
beams, which receive the load through heavy cast-iron 
bases under the columns. In the construction of this 
grillage each course of beams was laid in concrete to 
exact heights, and the base was grouted with cement 
into its exact position, both as to height and alignment. 
The loads carried by each column, in¬ 


cluding 




January 4, 1900. 


the weight of the 
materials of which 
the building is com¬ 
posed, and includ¬ 
ing also the as¬ 
sumed load which 
the building is de¬ 
signed to carry of 
people and fixtures, 
were determined by 
careful calculation, 
and the columns, 
formed of channels 
and plates riveted 
together, are pro¬ 
portioned to these 
loads. Each piece 
is long enough to 
reach through two 
stories, and the 
pieces, carried one 
upon the other, are 
spliced together 
with plates on the 
outside, securely 
riveted. 


15 





All of the walls of the building are carried on the 
iron frame and generally from floor to floor. This 
method is carried out so completely that on most of the 
floors all walls could be removed from floor to ceiling 
without in any way injuring the walls either above or 
below. Above the third floor, in the brick walls, the 
window lintels are also brick, though they are 

not arched in the usual form. 

The square open¬ 
ing is preserved 
and the desired ef¬ 
fect obtained with 
a special detail by 
which the bricks 
composing the lin¬ 
tel are supported 
directly from the 
structural iron. 
The terra cotta 
walls contain no 
constructive fea¬ 
tures novel to steel 
frame buildings, 
but the retreating 
wall in the loggia 
and the heavy over¬ 
hanging cornice af¬ 
ford an unusual 
variety. 

In tall buildings 
the lateral stability 
of the frame must 

January 18, 1900. ^ given proper 


16 





consideration. In this case deep girders are used in 
the walls on both ends of the building and on the lower 
floors of one side. These are connected to the columns 
with gusset plates made as large as the openings for 
the windows in the walls permit, and the whole is 
made strong enough to resist a wind-pressure of thirty 
pounds to the square foot on the face of the building 
without any dependence upon the masonry. All of the 
iron work j|^ in the building is conipletely 

covered from view by the walls 

and by the fire¬ 
proofing materials. 

The floor is con¬ 
structed of arches 
of hollow porous 
tile nine inches 
deep, and blocks of 
the same material 
four inches thick 
are used in the con¬ 
struction of the in- 
t e r i o r partition 
walls. The exterior 
walls are also lined 
on the inside 
throughout with 
furring blocks of 
the same character. 
The floor arches 
are covered with 
concrete made of 
Portland cement 
February i , 1900. and broken terra 


1.7 





cotta and stone, and the wooden sleepers supporting 
the wood floors are buried and secured in this con¬ 
crete. 

The building is supplied with water directly from 
the street mains. There is a large storage tank under 
the sidewalk to which direct connection is made. From 
this tank the water is forced by a Worthington pump 
into two compression tanks, from which it is dis¬ 
tributed throughout the building. One main supply line 
passes directly through all the toilet rooms to the top 
story, supplying the fixtures at each floor. Another 
line passes horizontally through the building above the 
ceiling line under the third floor to supply three lines 
of risers that care for all the office wash basins. There 
is a direct connection for a fire line, so arranged that it 
can be governed either from the compression tanks or 
by the pumps direct. This fire line extends to the top 
of the building, with hose, reels, and valves at every 





































































- Basement Floor Plan 


chambers st. 


floor, and a hose connection on the roof. There is also 
a Siamese connection for fire engines at the sidewalk, 
and a direct connection from the pump to a boiler from 
which hot water is supplied to all the toilet rooms. An 
independent connection with the street mains is made 
to supply the cellar and basement fixtures, and the boil¬ 
ers, if desired, under street pressure. Air is supplied 
to the compression tanks with Westinghouse air com¬ 
pressors, thereby securing a uniform pressure on the 
supply pipes throughout the building. There are 16 
public toilet rooms and 102 office wash basins. All 
fixtures are vented through to the roof by an open pipe 
entirely independent of the waste. The supply pipes and 
the vent and waste pipes are run side by side in spaces 
especially arranged for them in the construction of the 
building. All of the closets are of the “ flushometer ” 
type, taking the water directly from the main instead 
of from the ordinary flushing tank. All the pipes are 


19 

























































heavy galvanized steel with screwed fittings except the 
exposed nickel-plated connections to the fixtures. 

The building is heated by direct radiation. Exhaust 
steam is used, and is sufficient for the purpose except in 
extreme cold weather, when live steam can be used in¬ 
stead. The distribution is by the overhead system. 
The steam passes directly to the space immediately 
under the roof through a single pipe, from which it is 
distributed through a horizontal connection running en¬ 
tirely around the building to the down pipes, each of 
which serves a vertical line of radiators. In order to 
prevent noise from expansion and contraction of the 
pipes they are rigidly connected to the steel frame at 
the fourth and fourteenth floors, and midway they are 
bent horizontally from one vertical line of radiators to 
the next one adjoining. This in a simple way provides 
four divisions for expansion and is sufficient for the 
purpose. Steam is circulated through the entire twenty 
stories at an indicated pressure of less than one pound, 



Ground Floor Plan 


Chambers Street. 


20 


Broadway 
















































without any other means than natural condensation, 
and the building is uniformly heated to seventy degrees 
Fahrenheit. The radiators are cast-iron, and each one 
is provided with an automatic valve, which permits the 
escape of air when steam is first passed through the 
pipes, but which closes as soon as the steam begins to 
escape. The water of condensation is returned to the 
cellar and automatically pumped to the boilers. The 
steam is supplied from two 200 horse-power “ Climax ” 
boilers. These are of tubular construction, with the 
tubes coiled in place. These boilers are compact and 
are highly efficient and economical. They afford all 
the steam required for the operation of the entire power 
plant, including the pumps and dynamo-engines, pump¬ 
ing water for all uses, operating the elevators, and 
lighting the whole building. 

The electric plant is composed of two units, each 
composed of an engine and dynamo directly connected. 
The switchboard, and a complete system of electric 


21 


Broadwav 

















































wiring in iron conduits, with cut-out switches, etc., 
make the plant complete for the entire building. All 
the conduits are hidden in the construction, and so ar¬ 
ranged that wires can be removed or replaced as may 
be desired. There are 3,000 lights in the building. 

The four hydraulic elevators in the building are 
operated by two compound steam pumps, each of which 
alone is capable of running the entire plant the round 
trip in one and a half minutes. The water is first 
pumped into compression tanks, each having a capacity 
of 1,700 gallons. There are four of these tanks, and 
the air pressure is maintained within by Westinghouse 
air pumps. A uniform pressure of water is secured in 
this way in the cylinders, which are located in a verti¬ 
cal position in the shafts directly behind the elevators. 
The piston rods passing through the cylinder heads are 
secured to frames, each carrying three sheaves and a 
connecting weight, partially balancing the weight of 
the corresponding car. The cables are roved around 
these sheaves and also around others fixed at an in¬ 
termediate floor, thence over sheaves at the roof and 
to the car. The multiplication is 6 to 1, so the car 
travels six feet for every foot that the piston rod moves. 
All sheaves are made with four grooves, and all work¬ 
ing cables are multiplied four times. They are all 
24 -inch diameter. Each car has an area of 30 square 
feet, and is lighted with electric lights. A simple lever 
controls the water in the cylinders and the consequent 
movement of the car. A safety device is automatically 
set in operation by the movement of the car when it 
exceeds 650 feet per minute, and when it is once set 
in operation it immediately stops and holds the car 
wherever it may be. 


22 


Each elevator can carry a load of 2,500 pounds at a 
rate of 350 feet per minute, or half that load 600 feet 
per minute. The total lift is 218 feet, and the total load 
carried, including everything, is about 30,000 pounds. 
One of the cars, calculated to carry 6,000 pounds, is 
served by a special high-pressure pump, and is thus 
available for lifting safes and other heavy loads, as 
occasionally required. The plant is ample for the 
needs of the building, and contains all the safeguards 
known to modern engineering. 



23 









=- 




























































THE EXHIBIT AND 

THE EXHIBITORS 


HE most interesting feature of the exhibit 
at the Exposition is the model of the 
building made of plaster of Paris, and its 
counterpart, the metal model of the steel 
framework, made separate from the walls 
and the floors. The plaster of Paris 
model was made in St. Paul by Messrs. 
Purdy & Plutchinson, at a cost of about $1,000. The 
metal model was made by Mr. H. C. Hinchcliff, of 
New York City. It cost about $3,000. Both of the 
models are constructed to a half-inch scale, which 
makes them stand about 11 feet high. They show 
every part in exact proportion and are complete in 
every detail. 

The metal model is made of brass, of which about 
twenty thousand separate pieces were used. Each beam 
is made of two pieces of the sheet metal, channel- 
shaped, formed in a die, and soldered back to back, the 
perfect shape of the flange being obtained by the use of 
solder on the top and bottom. Each of the beams in 
the model is worked out in this way with the greatest 
precision. The columns were also shaped out of sheet- 
metal in much the same way, each piece in the full- 
sized column in the building being represented by a 


25 


similar piece in the model. Where three or four plates 
were riveted together in the building three or four sep¬ 
arate pieces of metal are soldered together in the model, 
so as to make the whole of the proper proportion. To 
obtain the perfection of alignment of all parts it was 
necessary to fabricate them all in forms made specially 





Metal Model of the Steel Frame. 


for the purpose, so that there 
could be no variation 
whatever in dimensions. 
The interest in the 
model is greatly en¬ 
hanced and its value as 
a demonstration of the 
character of the work in 
the building is greatly 
increased by an exhibit 
of some of the most im¬ 
portant sections and 
c o n n e c- 
tions of the 
iron work 
in the build¬ 
ing. These 
sections 
and connec¬ 
tions are 
made full 
size, an ex¬ 
act repro¬ 
duction of 
the mate¬ 
rials as they 
were used 


26 

















Plaster of Paris 


Model of the Building. 


27 















in the actual construction. They were manufactured 
and contributed to the exhibit by the Carnegie Steel 
Company, of Pittsburg, who manufactured all the iron 
required in the building. The name of this company is 
so well known both at home and abroad that its con¬ 
nection with the work is a guarantee in itself of the 
general good character of the work in the building. 
The ground work, retaining walls, and foundations in 
the model are made with iron castings combined with 
sheet brass, worked in such a way as to make the 
imitation of the original building as perfect as 
possible. 

The model is also made to show the heating, plumb¬ 
ing, and elevator construction. Everything pertaining 
to the heating system is red, the plumbing pipes are 
blue, the elevator cars are bronze, and the machin¬ 
ery is black. This color scheme makes it easy to 
follow these elements of construction through the laby¬ 
rinth of the structural members which, in the model, 
are all nickel-plated. 

The heating system was put in the building by Wells 
& Newton, of New York City, and they have contrib¬ 
uted a radiator to the exhibit like those used in the 
building. Parts are cut in section to show the internal 
construction. 

The plumbing was. put in the building by Mr. 
Thomas J. Byrne. A special exhibit is made to show 
the character of the fixtures and the details of the 
piping. It is arranged on a short piece of partition with 
marble backing and tiled floor, with all parts complete 
as in the building. The Empire^ City Marble Co., of 
New York City, who furnished the marble for the 


28 



Bottom Part of Metal Model. 


29 
















































































































Exhibit of Polychrome Terra Cotta. 


building, also furnished the marble for this exhibit, but 
the rest of the materials and all the work of the 
exhibit were contributed by the contractor for the 
plumbing. 


30 












The method of operating the “ flushometer ” connec¬ 
tion to the water closets is also shown by a sectional 
model furnished by the Kenney Co., of New York City, 
who furnished the closets for the building. As they are 
a special type of construction, but lately introduced into 



Plaster of Paris Model on Exhibition. 


31 










Top of Plaster of Paris Model. 

actual practice, this exhibit is of particular interest to 
every one concerned in plumbing work. 

The elevator system is illustrated in the metal model 
by miniature cars and a complete duplication of the 
operating machinery, all parts of which are made as 
exactly as possible to scale. One of the miniature 
cars is connected with an electric motor and kept in 
constant operation, making the trip from the bottom to 
the top of the model and return in about the same time 
as the original car does in the building. The moving 
sheaves connected to the cylinder move up and down 
exactly as though propelled by hydraulic power, 
though, in fact, in the model the operating force is 
electrical. 


32 

























The other contributions to the exhibits most closely 
allied to these are, perhaps, those relating to the power 
plant. The boilers for the building were furnished by 
the Clonbrock Steam Boiler Co., of Brooklyn, New 
York, who have also contributed a model of these 
boilers, which shows the character of the construction 
more perfectly than can be described by words. One 
unit of the electric plant has been duplicated in the ex¬ 
hibit by the contractors for the generators, the Bullock 
Manufactur- 
ing Co., and the 
contractors for the 
engines, the Payne 
Engineering 
Co. The dynamo 
used is the multi¬ 
polar- engine-type, 
with iron-clad ar- 
mature. 

It is rated 
at 50 K. 
w., 275 

r e v o 1 u- 
tions, no 
volts; is 
compound 
wound, and has a 
capacity of 800 six¬ 
teen candle-power 
lights, equivalent to 
sixty-six horse¬ 
power delivered at 

the brushes. The fourth floor spandrel. 




33 






pole-pieces are composed of thin 
lamination steel, alternately cut 
away, whereby the longer mem¬ 
ber, projecting over the shorter, 
can become highly saturated. 

Armature reaction is therefore 
ineffective, and eddy-currents 
are inappreciable. The sparking 
point of these machines is 
reached only when the current 
density of the 
brush -contact 
surfaces ex¬ 
ceeds the car¬ 
rying capac¬ 
ity. The ar¬ 
mature - coils 
are separate¬ 
ly insulated— 
a construction 

rendered possible by the employ¬ 
ment of wide openings at the 
armature-slots, through the top 
of which openings the armature- 
coils are dropped in place. The 
coils are held in place by wooden FlFTH Floor Spandrel - 
wedges carried in recesses notched at the top of the 
armature-slots. Band-wires are unnecessary. So 
rigidly constructed are the commutators that irregu¬ 
larity in the bars is impossible. The commutators last 
as long as the machine, for the tension of the brush- 
holders is exceedingly light. The parts of the machine 
are so designed and combined that symmetry of 


34 



appearance is obtained, as well as efficient operation 
under the most severe conditions. 

The engine is connected directly to the dynamo. The 
engine is high-speed with center crank, automatic cut¬ 
off, inertia shaft-governor, balanced slide-valve, and 
automatic lubricating system. It develops 80 indicated 
horse-power at a speed of 275 revolutions per minute. 
The governor regulates the speed 


of the engine with one per cent, 
of the normal, throughout all ex¬ 
treme variations of load and 
steam-pressure. 

The switchboard belonging to 
this plant is also duplicated in the 
exhibit of Mr. H. Krantz, of 
Brooklyn, who furnished the 
switchboard for the building. It 
is so arranged that the total cur- 
rent is fed tfnfegsaggaMgjgi 

into a main 
double- 
throw, 1 ,000- 
ampere H 
switch, in or- H 
der that the 1 ^ 

building can 
be connected 

either with the public system of 
lighting or with the generators. 1 
Each generator is protected by 
fuses and a single-pole circuit- 
breaker. A multiple voltmeter 
is provided which gives readings 

Jp||| 

■fiy .> m 

Sixteenth Floor 
Spandrel. 


35 






on either dynamo, and acts at the same time as a 
ground-detector. 

The switchboard installed at the Paris Exposition 
differs somewhat from that of the building. One dy¬ 
namo switch is omitted, and the main throw-over switch 
is also omitted. Four circuit-switches are mounted on 
the board, instead of fourteen, and only one ammeter 
and one rheostat are provided instead of two, while the 


Floor Construction—Room Exhibit. 

circuit-switches are all two-poled instead of three-poled, 
and are connected directly with the dynamo-switch bus¬ 
bars, instead of with the main throw-over switch bus¬ 
bars. The feeders of the switchboard at the building 
serve centers of distribution in the sub-basement, base¬ 
ment, ground, and first floors. From these centers of 
distribution special feeders and branch circuits radiate 
which serve the outlets for the lights. Feeders likewise 
extend from the switchboard to exhaust fans located in 
the basement and on the roof at the ventilating shaft. 

36 







All the wires are enclosed in rigid iron Sprague con¬ 
duits terminating at the outlets in Mezger Universal 
outlet-boxes. The wires are drawn from one outlet- 
box to the other and to the distributing center. The 
conduits were installed while the building was in course 
of construction and connected behind the finish line; 
but in the exhibit they have been placed on the surface 
in order to illustrate the method of insulation. The 
outlet-boxes used are an improvement on those ordi¬ 
narily employed in so far as they can be used for a great 
number of purposes irrespective of the manner in 
which the gas and electric conduits are installed rela¬ 
tively to their entrance into the boxes. The fixtures for 
the lighting of the exhibit were contributed by J. B. 
McCoy & Son, of New York City, who furnished the 
fixtures for the building. 

The exhibit of terra cotta is imposing. It was con¬ 
tributed at great expense by the Perth Amboy Terra 
Cotta Co., who manufactured the terra cotta used in 
the building, and by the George A. Fuller Co., who have 
borne all the expense required in providing the other 
materials necessary for its installation. The exhibit 
consists of a portion of the exterior wall, an exact dupli¬ 
cation of that in the new building, erected in the rear of 
the space allotted to this exhibit, making a construction 
about 20 feet wide and 40 feet high. It illustrates the 
practice of American architects in using terra cotta in 
large motive in place of stone, and the particular part 
selected was chosen with special reference to show this 
feature of construction as fully as possible. 

There are two other important exhibits illustrative of 
structural details. One is the section of a room with all 
the features of its construction, and the other consists 


37 


of a series of wall sections, of which five are shown. 
The section of the room is a perfect reproduction in full 
size. The iron framework, the fireproofing in the floors, 
the fireproofing in partition walls, the interior finish, 
the floor, the door and door trim, the cement base, 
electric wiring, lighting fixtures, the plaster, and in fact 
every detail of the construction is shown in this exhibit 
exactly the same as it would be if the exhibit itself had 
been cut out from the building without in any way dis¬ 
turbing the portion removed. Each portion of this 
construction was contributed by the contractors for that 
particular material as used in the construction of the 
building. 

The same thing is true of the wall sections. They 
were taken at different places in the building, from the 
window sill of one story through to the window head of 
the story below, including not only the wall, but a por¬ 
tion of the floor immediately adjoining. They show 
the sections of the beams and all other members of the 
steel frame enclosed in the wall construction, and illus¬ 
trate how the other materials are supported. In fact, 
these sections bring out more clearly this peculiar char¬ 
acteristic of modern buildings, the supporting of the 
walls on a frame, more distinctly than could possibly be 
done in any other manner. The utmost pains have been 
taken to make the appearance of the section exactly as 
it would be if it were really cut out of the building. 
One section is taken at the third floor showing the 
granite construction, one is taken at the fourth floor 
showing the brick construction, while the others show 
the terra cotta construction, one at the fifteenth floor, 
one at the sixteenth, and one at the roof. The one at 
the fifteenth floor shows the recessed wall forming the 
38 


loggia in the fifteenth and sixteenth stories, and the 
one at the roof shows the overhanging terra cotta 
cornice. The anchors holding the terra cotta in posi¬ 
tion are placed, as much as possible, where they can be 
seen, so that the character of the support may be thor¬ 
oughly understood. The granite was furnished by 
Mr. John Pierce, of New York City, and the iron by 



George A. Fuller. 


the Carnegie Steel Co., the fireproofing by the National 
Fireproofing Co., the woodwork by the Henry Taylor 
Lumber Co., the anchors by the Lincoln Iron Works, 
and the lighting fixtures by J. B. McCoy & Son. 

The hardware used in the building is shown to some 
extent in the exhibit of the room as described, but 
there is also a separate and more complete exhibit. 


39 


The large perspective drawings were prepared and 
contributed to this exhibit by the architect, Mr. Cass 
Gilbert, together with the elevations and plans 
sufficient to show the excellent character of the 
building as fully as it can be shown by drawings. 
The drawings of the steel construction of the building 
were contributed by the Consulting Engineers, Purdy 
& Henderson, of New York City, who designed the 
steel work and the foundations of the building. They 
comprise both general drawings and the detailed draw¬ 
ings used in the mills and shops for the fabrication 
of the materials. These drawings were not made 
specially for the exhibit, but are simply duplicate 
prints of those actually used. 

The George A. Fuller Company, of New York City, 
have contributed to this exhibit a large assortment of 
pictures of other buildings which have been con¬ 
structed by them. This contribution was made at the 
suggestion of the Commission in order that the general 
character of high buildings in America may be set 
forth and more clearly contrasted with the old meth¬ 
ods of construction. 

The origin and collection of the exhibit are quite as 
interesting in a way as the exhibit itself. It was born 
in the earnest purpose of Commissioner-General Peck 
to have the remarkable development of American en¬ 
gineering demonstrated in some concrete shape in this 
exhibition at Paris. Without funds from the Govern¬ 
ment available for the purpose, an appeal was made to 
the various national societies, and out of this appeal, 
through the Western Society of Engineers, the work was 
seriously undertaken and pushed through to comple¬ 
tion. It was decided to make the exhibition illustrative 


40 


of one building only, because the successful collection 
of such an exhibit seemed possible, while any other 
plan of operation would fail; and the Broadway Cham¬ 
bers was chosen, not because it is the largest building 
in America, for it is not, but because it was then in 
process of construction, near at hand, and particularly 
adapted for the purpose. 

It has been hoped, it may be confessed, by many of 
its contributors that the exhibit would be worth some¬ 
thing in the way of advertisement; but some of the 
men most largely involved will get little advantage of 
this kind from their investment, and the mercenary mo¬ 
tive has been from the first to the last quite subordinate 
to patriotic impulse. 

The George A. Fuller Company agreed at the begin¬ 
ning to assume the largest item of expense and to help 
out in the rest where others failed, and this action on 
their part was, more than anything else, what made its 
collection possible. After it was once under way there 
was a real emulation among the other contributors to 
make their offerings creditable, and few calls were made 
that were not heartily and promptly responded to. The 
co-operation of the architect was constant and enthusi¬ 
astic. Mr. Gilbert has an office at No. hi Fifth Ave¬ 
nue, New York City. The work of organizing the 
exhibit, however, was all conducted from the office of 
Purdy & Henderson, in New York City, No. 78 Fifth 
Avenue. They have offices in both New York and 
Chicago and have been closely identified with the devel¬ 
opment of the newer methods of construction in both 
the East and the West from the very beginning of the 
use of steel in the construction of buildings. 

The George A. Fuller Company was established in 


41 


Chicago by Mr. George A. Fuller, and from the begin¬ 
ning its career has been successful. Year after year 
the volume of its business has increased and the area 
of its opportunities has widened. In the years 1892 
and 1893 its contracts in the city of Chicago alone were 
valued at many millions of dollars. Owing to Mr. Ful¬ 
ler’s ill-health changes in the management have taken 
place, but the firm has steadfastly conducted its affairs 
with the same keen understanding of the requirements 
of the time and of modern methods of construction. 

In 1896 an office was opened in New York, and in 
the following year another one was opened in Boston. 
The main office is now in New York, with auxiliary 
offices in Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, and St. Louis. 

The company has done more work on commission 
and under contracts of special character than under 
regular contracts; but whatever may be the nature of 
the contract, the work always includes everything re¬ 
quired to make the structure in question complete. 
Excavations are made and foundations of all kinds are 
constructed by the company’s own employes. They also 
erect all the structural steel required in their contracts, 
and do all of their own masonry and carpentry work. 
In other words, they do with their own employes all the 
work required to construct a building, except such 
special work as plumbing, steam-heating, electric-light¬ 
ing, etc., which they have done by sub-contractors 
under their immediate direction and supervision. 

Many of the larger buildings of the city of Chicago 
were erected by the George A. Fuller Company. 
Among them may be mentioned the '* Monadnock,” the 
“ Marquette,” and the “ Old Colony ” office buildings, 
and the Marshall Field retail store. 


42 



Its first building in Boston, one of the highest that 
has been constructed there, is known as the Brazer 
Building. It was designed by Mr. Cass Gilbert, the 
architect of the Broadway Chambers Building, the sub¬ 
ject of this exhibit. The company’s work in Boston 
includes some of the finest hotels and office buildings 
in America, built in accordance with the most modern 
methods of construction. In Baltimore the George A. 
Fuller Company has erected several large office build¬ 
ings, and in New York it has also built some notable 
structures. In addition to the buildings in these cities, 
it has constructed buildings in Washington, Atlanta, 
St. Louis and Buffalo. It now has under contract a 
new hotel to take the place of the Willard in Washing¬ 
ton, and several business houses in New York and Bos¬ 
ton. One of these, located on the corner of Broad 
Street and Exchange Place, in New York, will be the 
largest office building in the world. Together with the 
ground, it will be valued at $7,500,000. It will require 
eighteen fast running elevators to meet the require¬ 
ments of the tenants who will be lodged within its walls. 
This enormous undertaking is to be completed within 
the space of one year from the time the contract was 
signed. The George A. Fuller Company has had a nota¬ 
ble career. Its work has always been the best, its 
methods of construction the most modern, and its pro¬ 
fessional talent in all branches of its work the most 
competent that could be procured. 

Outside of the George A. Fuller Company the most 
important contributor to the exhibit is the Perth Am¬ 
boy Terra Cotta Company. They began the making 
of architectural terra cotta in 1879, after an experi¬ 
ence of thirty-three years in the manufacture of fire- 


43 


brick and clayware. 
Many of the largest 
buildings in the 
United States, among 
them the New York 
Produce Exchange, 
Madison Square Gar- 
d e n, Metropolitan 
Opera House, Impe¬ 
rial Hotel, Park Row 
Building, and the 
Boston Library, have 
been built of terra 
cotta supplied by the 
Perth Amboy Com- 
p a n y. Polychrome 
terra cotta is a prod¬ 
uct of late years, but 
has been made in 
large quantities by 
the company to meet 
an increasing demand. 
The material now 
made is capable of 
withstanding climatic 
action. The colors are 
produced in countless 
shades to secure soft 
and harmonious ef¬ 
fects. It has been 
made to especially 
meet the demand for 
a material suitable for 



44 






































decorating the modern steel-frame building. The im¬ 
portance of flat surfaces and light reveals has led 
architects to seek a material with which they could 
produce chromatic architectural effects without the 
direct application of unendurable color, and this has 
seemed to most satisfactorily answer the purpose. The 
Perth Amboy Company is probably the only firm in 
America which manufactures the material in quantity. 

The elevators in the building were furnished by the 
Otis Elevator Company of New York. Their elevator, 
now so extensively used throughout the world, was 

invented by Mr. 
Elisha Y. Otis. The 
first improvement in 
safety appliances was 
devised in 1852 and 
applied to an elevator 
driven by belts from a 
line of shafting. In 
1859 the independent 
hoisting machine for 
higher speed freight 
elevators was patent¬ 
ed by Mr. Otis. In 
1861 Mr. Otis died, 
and the business 
passed into the hands 
of his sons, Charles 
R. and Norton P. 
Otis. In 1867 the 
business was incorpo¬ 
rated in the name of 
OTIS BROTHERS 



45 

































& COMPANY. From 1861 to 1878 
many steam freight and passen- 
k ger elevators were installed in 
buildings throughout the 
United States. In 1878 
1% *■ the vertical cylinder 


type of hydraulic eleva¬ 
tor was introduced; 
and from that time for¬ 
ward nearly all passen¬ 
ger and many freight 
elevators were built in 


accordance with this new idea. The electric elevator 
was first introduced in 1888. The Otis Elevator Com¬ 
pany has its offices at 71 Broadway, New York City. 
The main office for Europe is located at 4 Queen Vic¬ 
toria Street, London, England. The French agency is 
conducted by M. Abel Pifre, 2 5 Rue de la Paix, Paris, 
France. 

The electric light wiring system was installed by the 
Brooklyn Electric Equipment Company, of 164 Mon¬ 
tague Street, Brooklyn, New York City. The firm has 
had considerable experience in electric construction, 
and points with pride to its work in the Lords’ Court, 
Central National Bank, Hudson, and Wallace Build¬ 
ings, and in the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. 
Among the residences in which the electrical installa¬ 
tions of the firm may be seen are those of Messrs. E. 
Corning Clark, William N. Hornblower, and General 
F. R. Halsey. From a modest beginning the Brook¬ 
lyn Electric Equipment Company has steadily grown 
until now it is one of the most prominent firms of the 
kind in the country. 


46 


Mr. H. Krantz, who furnished the switchboard for 
the electric plant, is engaged in the manufacture of 
high-grade switchboards for both direct and alter¬ 
nating currents, switches of the quick-break and sta¬ 
tion-lever type, panel-boards, centers of distribution 
and main-line cut-outs, and porcelain-lined and 
japanned outlet boxes which are used in connection 
with interior armored conduits. Mr. Krantz also 
manufactures many special electrical devices. His 
place of business is at the corner of Boerum Place and 
State Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

The Bullock Manufacturing Company, of Cincin¬ 
nati, Ohio, who furnished the dynamos, are one of the 
most admirably equipped electrical establishments in 
the world. Many of the firm’s machines can be seen 
at the Exposition. Bullock light and power genera¬ 
tors are noted for their cool and sparkless operation 
even under the most severe conditions. Generators 
made by the Bullock Company are exhibited at the 
Vincennes Power Plant, Palace of Transportation and 
Civil Engineering, United States Section; also in the 
Palace of Machinery and Electricity, and in the Palace 
of Liberal Arts, in conjunction with a Goss newspaper 
press. 

The Payne Engineering Company, of Elmira, 
New York, U. S. A., for sixty years manufacturers 
of steam engines, are the exhibitors of the engine di¬ 
rectly connected to the generator. Its business was 
established in 1840 at Corning, N. Y., by Mr. B. W. 
Payne. It removed to Elmira in 1883, and was in¬ 
corporated in 1898. The engine exhibited represents 
the most improved type of steam-motor made in 
America. The Company’s London agent is Mr. W. 


47 


H. Merriman, 39 Victoria Street, London, S. W.; 
Hamburg agent, Herr C. Henkel, Nuerwall, 74 den, 
Hamburg. 

The Clonbrock Steam Boiler Company, of Brook¬ 
lyn, New York City, are the only makers of the well- 
known “ Climax ” boilers for power and heating 
plants. The company was incorporated in 1895, with 
a capital stock of $200,000. Its President is Mr. 
Thomas F. Morrin, the inventor of the “ Climax ” 
boiler. The company’s boilers supply the steam 
power for the American exhibit at Vincennes. 

The contract for the plumbing in the building was 
awarded to Mr. Thomas J. Byrne, of 377 Fourth Ave- 
.me, New York City. Mr. Byrne has the distinction 
of being one of the most prominent consulting en¬ 
gineers for sanitary and hydraulic works in the United 
States. Some of the finest plumbing in New York’s 
office buildings, apartment houses and hotels was in¬ 
stalled by him. Among these structures may be men¬ 
tioned the Waldorf-Astoria and Manhattan Hotels, 
the Mills, Times, Empire, and Constable Buildings, 
and the Presbyterian and New York Hospitals. It 
is a tribute to his ability that he received the contract 
for the Broadway Chambers Building, for it was only 
after a most thorough investigation of many plumb¬ 
ing systems that he was chosen for this important 
work. 

The Wells & Newton Company, Engineers and 
Contractors, of 231-235 Eldridge Street, Manhattan, 
New York City, who installed the heating plant of the 
building, are manufacturers of steam and hot water 
heating and ventilating apparatus, dealers in plumb¬ 
ing and steam supplies and makers of sheet metal 
48 


work. They are well and favorably known throughout 
the United States. 

The Lincoln Iron Works, at Boonton, New Jersey, 
contributed iron anchors and other small iron work to 
the exhibit. Their works are admirably equipped with 
special machinery for executing smithing and forge 
work for large engineering structures. 

The Kenney Flushometer System of water closets, 
installed in the Broadway Chambers Building by the 
Kenney Company, 72-74 Trinity Place, New York 
City, U. S. A., is the latest, least complicated, most 
sanitary and durable device ever devised for flushing 
water-closets. It has received the strongest endorse¬ 
ment of sanitary engineers, architects and health 
boards. It has passed the experimental period, and is 
now successfully used in many new buildings in the 
United States and Canada, where the very best sani¬ 
tary system of plumbing is required. The flush¬ 
ometer is protected by patents both in Europe and in 
the United States. 

All the fireproofing required in connection with the 
exhibit was furnished by the National Fireproofing 
Company. This company was organized in 1889, in the 
city of Pittsburg, which continues to be their principal 
office. The company, however, now have offices in New 
York, Boston, and Philadelphia. They own and oper¬ 
ate five distinct factories located in different parts of the 
LTnited States, so that it is possible for them to place 
material in all of the Eastern and Middle cities of the 
country at very small cost for transportation. Their 
business has steadily grown in volume until now they 
are the largest manufacturers of this material. They 
have their own clay and their own coal lands. 


49 


The Henry Taylor Lumber Company is located at 
Lafayette, Indiana, on the Wabash River. The finest va¬ 
riety of white oak in the world is grown in this region. 
The company is thereby enabled to get the best raw 
material at a minimum cost. It recently lost its entire 
plant by fire, but is now refitted with an entirely new 
and completely modern outfit for the manufacture of 
veneered or laminated doors, oak base, casings, and 
wood interior finishing, including cabinets and bank 
fixtures. The company utilizes not only oak, but also 
all native American woods. 

The hardware used in the building was furnished by 
the Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company. The 
main office of this company is in New York City, at No. 
45 Chambers Street. Their factory is in New Britain, 
Conn. They are the oldest manufacturers of bronze 
goods in the United States and they make a specialty of 
fine builders’ hardware. On the Broadway Chambers, 
the designs were all made new and special for the work 
by the company in conjunction with the architect and 
under his direction. 



50 


STEEL FRAME 

CONSTRUCTION 

IT of the business buildings recently 
erected in the United States are con¬ 
structed after the manner of the Broad¬ 
way Chambers. They constitute a class 
quite distinct from the older buildings 
which are of massive construction, mod¬ 
eled more after the methods of France 
and Southern Europe. One has been 
evolved from the other, yet there are marked distinc¬ 
tions between the two. In appearance they may be 
much the same, but one is massive in fact, while the 
other only appears to be so. 

The heavy walls of the old buildings are required to 
carry the loads of the floors as well as their own 
weight, and to give the building its lateral strength. 
Of necessity their thickness must increase rapidly as the 
buildings are made higher, and in buildings more than 
five or six stories high the windows must be made small, 
or the walls are even then so thick that the space they 
occupy is a real burden to the building. All business 
buildings are commercial enterprises, and whatever re¬ 
duces their earning power is objectionable. In a build¬ 
ing about as wide and long as the Broadway Chambers, 
and about ten stories high, the difference in rental on 
this account alone might be eight or ten per cent, of its 
net or profit income. 



5i 


In the old buildings it was not always easy to 
trace the effect and support of a given concentrated 
load, and the exact distribution on the foundations of 
the weight of a building so constructed was not always 
easy to determine, if indeed it could be determined at 
all. In the steel frame buildings, however, the dis¬ 
tribution of loads is definite, the conditions are reversed 
and there is concentration instead of diffusion. 

In massive construction, many features and details 
are necessarily fixed by empirical rules and practice, 
and calculations can not be made with anything like 
the definiteness and certainty which always obtain in 
the designing of steel construction. Indeed, in the new 
buildings, nothing is done from first to last empirically. 
Everything is fixed by definite calculation, the same as 
in bridge construction. 

In the new buildings the walls are carried on the 
steel frame from floor to floor, and they do not even 
carry their own weights, except from one point of sup¬ 
port to the next. Their only use is to enclose the build¬ 
ing. For all practical purposes, comparatively thin 
walls are, therefore, as serviceable as thick ones, and 
the height is immaterial. If a wall sixteen inches thick 
will do on the top floor it will serve equally well near 
the ground. When carried on steel, the walls can, there¬ 
fore, be made the same thickness the entire height of 
the building, and this makes a material reduction in 
the weight of the building, which, in turn, reduces the 
foundation construction. 

When all the weight of the exterior walls and the 
adjacent floors is carried by steel columns the space re¬ 
quired for a column to carry a very heavy load is not 
very much greater than that required to carry a small 


52 


load. Consequently, so far as the strength of the build¬ 
ing is concerned, the piers between windows can be kept 
the same size on the lower floors of the building that 
they are at the top, and in all cases they may be made 
as small as the proper protection of the column will 
permit. As a matter of fact, the proper proportioning 
of the faqade almost always calls for wider piers than 
the construction requires. Window areas can, there¬ 
fore, be made much greater than in massive construc¬ 
tion, and in many of our large cities this is an extremely 
important factor in the value of the building for rental 
purposes. The difference between a half-lighted office 
with small windows and deep set jambs, and a well- 
lighted office with large windows, is so radical that 
most tenants are willing to pay a larger rental for the 
well-lighted room. In every American city where the 
new steel-constructed buildings have been erected, the 
light and added cheerfulness of its offices have made 
the old buildings unpopular. 

The architectural character of the great buildings of 
America has been often criticised, both at home and 
abroad, but no one finds any fault with an office filled 
with sunshine. How to best proportion a very high 
building may be yet an unsolved problem, but that diffi¬ 
culty will not prevent their continued construction. 
The new building is also criticised because the facades 
are not what they appear to be, solid self-supporting 
walls, but the men who have exchanged a dull, dingy 
office for a light, cheerful one, do not stop to inquire 
whether the artist is satisfied or not. These difficulties 
must be met, and our artists and our architects must be 
resigned to it, wherever the new building is tried. 

There is another radical difference between the two 


53 


classes of buildings in the construction of interior 
walls. In a typical building of massive construction 
the division walls are as fixed a part of the construc¬ 
tion as the faqades. This characteristic of such build¬ 
ings necessitates an arrangement of rooms on every 
floor with reference to fixed division lines, and there is 
no possibility of change. Whatever changes there may 
be in tenants, or whatever change in its use may be de¬ 
sired, everything must be moulded to the fixed arrange¬ 
ment of the rooms as originally planned. In the new 
buildings this condition is entirely changed. It mat¬ 
ters not how large an area the building covers, the old- 
fashioned heavy division wall is discarded, and the en¬ 
tire interior of the building is supported on columns. 
The partitions between the rooms are erected to suit the 
tenants of the building, and these thin walls are carried 
by each floor without regard to the arrangement of the 
rooms, ether above or below. They can be taken out at 
any time, without injury to the building, and it is, there¬ 
fore, possible to rearrange the rooms at any time to suit 
new tenants, or to add to the renting value of the 
structure. 

The problem of making the new buildings as proof 
against fire as the old ones involves quite different 
conditions, but it has been satisfactorily solved. The 
massive building is fireproof because the construction 
everywhere is so thick and heavy that the effect of'a 
fire can not be far-reaching, even though the materials 
exposed are themselves destructible. Nearly all kinds 
of stone and some kinds of brick and terra cotta are of 
this character; the exposed surfaces may be greatly in¬ 
jured by a fire, but the hidden portions of the construc¬ 
tion are protected and the building is not destroyed. 


54 


On the other hand, the fireproof qualities of the steel 
constructed building depend entirely upon the good 
character and the perfect indestructibility of the ex¬ 
posed materials; the metal frame must be covered 
everywhere, and the covering must resist the effects of 
fire and prevent the metal frame from being seriously 
heated. Stone and some forms of brick and terra cotta 
construction do not make a suitable covering. They 
are incombustible, but they nevertheless break to pieces 
when exposed to a great heat. The fireproofing every¬ 
where must be indestructible. Exposed ironwork can 
not be depended upon in a fire. Even the partial col¬ 
lapse of the fireproof material in a steel building may 
so expose the frame as to directly or indirectly bring 
about its complete destruction. With all the latest per¬ 
fection in the art of fireproofing, it is now possible to 
make a steel constructed building that can not be de¬ 
stroyed by any kind of a fire, either from within or 
without. Many of our so-called fireproof buildings are 
not so constructed, but the best of them are perfectly 
fireproof, and the standard of great buildings in this 
respect is being constantly raised. American cities have 
probably suffered less than London and Hamburg from 
the improper use of steel in buildings, and it is due 
more than anything else to the high development of 
fireproofing methods in America. No one, therefore, 
should be prejudiced against steel buildings on this 
account. 

The endurance of the new buildings has also been 
often questioned. It is pointed out that the long life 
of buildings of massive construction is already proved 
by centuries of trial, and that the rapid decay of steel 
is everywhere apparent. It is true also that the advo- 


LofC. 


55 


cates of the steel-constructed building can prove but 
little from the short experience they have already had 
with them, and they must acknowledge, from indis¬ 
putable evidence, that some of the steel buildings al¬ 
ready erected will not long endure. On the other hand, 
judging a priori, it would seem that there is no good 
reason why buildings can not be built with steel frames 
that shall continue to exist indefinitely. Corrosion can 
not proceed without both moisture and air, and with 
good painting and good covering, there is no reason 
why the iron and steel framing should not be protected 
from both. Proper care during fabrication of the ma¬ 
terial and immediately afterward can prevent an 
initial corrosion. Even the best of painting has not 
proved to be a permanent safeguard for exposed sur¬ 
faces, but there seems no good reason to question the 
permanence of first-class paint coverings, where the 
painted surface itself is perfectly protected, as should be 
the case in all well built buildings. Indeed, it is quite 
possible to protect the iron from corrosion without the 
use of paint or other substitute for it. Portland cement 
concrete and Portland cement grouting are perfect con¬ 
servators of iron, and it is quite possible to erect a steel 
building with all metal surfaces covered with one or 
the other. The painting, however, is well worth the 
expense. It prevents the initial corrosion which is 
otherwise certain. The problem of protecting iron in 
buildings is radically different from protecting it in 
bridges, and experience with the one is no criterion for 
the other. Neither stone nor brick work nor any other, 
kind of wall material should come in direct contact with 
structural steel in supporting walls. In all cases there 
should be a coating, not less than one-quarter of an 
56 


inch thick, of good Portland cement mortar interven- 
ing. Around the columns in the walls this coating 
should be fully a half inch thick. 

Pipes and wires of all kinds should properly be kept 
free from the structural iron, and when they are made 
to follow the columns, they should be kept free from 
the metal by a separating and insulating wall which 
will perfectly protect the column. Every part of the 
steel must be protected from both corrosion and fire, 
and if the same operation is not competent for the pur¬ 
pose, a special means must be adopted for each. The 
direct contact of Portland cement in the form of grout¬ 
ing or concrete seems to be one of the surest means of 
preventing corrosion; but it is of little or no value as 
fire protection. Porous burned fireclay terra cotta con¬ 
struction of good thickness seems to afford altogether 
the best protection against fire. The porosity of the 
material prevents cracking and crumbling through un¬ 
equal expansion, while the hollow character of the 
product makes it nearly equal to two separate walls in 
protection. For exterior walls nothing has been found 
to so perfectly protect the steel imbedded in them as 
first-class hard-burned brick, laid in cement mortar, 
and this is also the best protection against corrosion. 
Reasoning, therefore, in this way, steel buildings ought 
to endure as long as those built of solid masonry. 

In all properly constructed steel frames the columns 
must be proportioned to the loads, both those which are 
actual and those which are problematical or possible. 
The beams must be made strong enough to carry the 
weight of the floor itself, including all of the materials 
that enter into its construction, and in addition thereto 
an allowed load for the service of the building. In New 


57 


York, 75 lbs. is required for office floors, 60 lbs. for 
dwelling houses and hotels, 90 lbs. for rooms used as 
places of public assembly, 120 lbs. for ordinary stores, 
t 50 lbs. for factories, and greater loads for warehouses, 
according to the character of the materials to be stored. 

The steel frame must also be designed for lateral 
strains. In New York it is required that all structures 
exposed to wind shall resist a horizontal wind pressure 
of 30 lbs. for every square foot of surface exposed from 
the ground to the top of the building, including the roof, 
and in every direction; also that the overturning mo¬ 
ment due to the wind shall in no case exceed 75 per cent, 
of the moment of the stability of the structure. It is 
ordinarily possible to construct a steel frame in such a 
way that it will be able to resist an overturning moment 
great enough to induce tension in the columns on the 
windward side of the structure. If this limit in any 
given structure also meets the requirements of the law, 
then the structure is ordinarily a possible one. If it 
does not, the dimensions of the structure must be 
changed; either it must be made lower, or the size of it 
in plan or its weight must be increased. 

A great many methods have been devised to meet 
this requirement of providing for the lateral strength. 
In some buildings, as in the Broadway Chambers, it is 
done by putting in deep girders with gusset plates 
either in the exterior or in the interior, or both. In 
other cases it is provided for by direct bracing, as is 
ordinarily done in tower construction. In some build¬ 
ings it has been found practical to put in vertical lines 
of portals, made of angles and solid web plates forming 
arches in each story between columns in such a way that 
58 


it will not be necessary to close the space by a solid 
partition. 

In small buildings, generally speaking, the steel 
frame method is not quite as economical as massive 
construction, but even in buildings of this size the 
combination of the massive construction and the steel 
frame construction can often be employed to consid¬ 
erable advantage and economically so. When the build¬ 
ings are very high the steel frame method is altogether 
the most economical. Indeed, it would be imprac¬ 
ticable to build a massive building as high as most of 
the high buildings in New York are constructed where 
the steel frame method is employed, and this points 
to really the greatest advantage belonging to this 
method of construction—that is to say, the increased 
renting area obtained by increasing the number of 
floors. If the cost of the ground is not increased suffi¬ 
ciently to neutralize the advantage, the iron building 
can be made to pay a much larger income on the in¬ 
vestment than a building of lesser height, and this is 
always, of course, the crowning argument in favor of 
the high building. 

For large buildings, then, the steel frame method is 
to be distinctly preferred to the old form of construc¬ 
tion, With thinner walls the renting area is increased 
and the weight lightened so as to materially simplify 
the foundation problem, shortening the time required 
for the construction of the building, and lessening the 
cost. With the strength of the building in its metal 
frame instead of its masonry, the light areas can be 
greatly increased, and the comfort and attractiveness 
of the building correspondingly improved. With the 


i 


59 


interior of the building supported on columns, the ar¬ 
rangement of its rooms can be modified from time to 
time to meet changing conditions and requirements. 
With the use of steel all problems of strength can be 
clearly defined, the proper proportioning of all parts 
of the building can be easily and definitely determined, 
and the strength and good character of the structure 
can be absolutely assured. And finally, from the point 
of investment, the steel frame method makes perfectly 
practical an increased height, more floors to rent, and 
more income from the same ground rental. 

It may be added that all these advantages within 
reasonable limits are also multiplied in proportion as 
the height of the building is increased. As we have 
seen, the new building can be fireproof, and with care 
it can be constructed so as to endure indefinitely. With¬ 
out doubt there is a limit of height above which all 
buildings should not be built, but the best American 
authorities are now pretty well agreed that the objec¬ 
tions to buildings of great height do not hold with 
force to buildings of twelve or eighteen stories, and 
that the rare advantage to the business of a great city 
in bringing its financial* operations into small areas 
more than counterbalances the disadvantages commonly 
accredited to the construction of such buildings. The 
sunlight is not excluded from any streets all day long, 
and there is no city suffering from lack of sunshine 
because of high buildings. New York has the highest 
buildings, and they are built on her narrowest streets, 
and no suffering has followed. Traffic becomes con¬ 
gested, it is true, but means are made to meet the con¬ 
gestion, and the difficulty is soon overcome. 


6c 


It is hoped that this discussion may interest archi¬ 
tects and builders, and owners of buildings, in cities 
where these most modern methods of construction have 
not yet been employed, and that the exhibit which it 
describes shall have added to the knowledge of the 
nations. 



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SEP l 1900 





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Compliments of 
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